[NOTE: I just posted this in the wheels/tires section too]

Please help! I have had street 205/55/16 tires on all 4 stock wheels. The Yokos are now gone, RIP. Now I am moving up in the DE field and ready to make the next step for a track/street car (not an ultimate track car!). I have a 3.2 l engine in the car now. I plan to open the checkbook for suspension work (sway/torsion/adj. shocks), but immediate need is tires (one is destroyed):

What are the best options for wheels/tires without modifications to the car?
What are the best options for wheels/tires if I make minor modifications to the car?
Where can I go to read up on what all the numbers mean and how they work for wheel sizes, etc.? (and learn enough to be dangerous!)

A BIG THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO REPLY AND SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE!

 

You could do what I did with mine, buy a set of cookie cutters and some 205/50x15 Toyo RA1's for the track and some Yoko AVS ES 100's front 205/55x15, rear 215/60xx15 all on polished/painted 7" Fuchs for the street.
my .02

 

Fisrt, what experience level are you?

For a Green/Blue student you can, and probably should continue with a good quality street performance tire. Really the only thing a 911 needs for track is racing brake fluid and top quality performance pads front and rear.

For wheels/tires, the above sounds good.... you can can run 205 front and rear if you get the suspension tuned properly. You cannot probably get 225 section tires on the rear of a narrow body car without alot of fiddling and custom offset rims.

If your suspension is in top condition, IMHO you can work with street set-up pretty much until you get into White. If there is one thing you might consider it is adding adjustable sway bars. With that 3.2 in it, your car will likely want to oversteer with the stock set-up, and adjustables will let you tune some of that out.

Weltmeisters are quite adequate, but for a few hundred bucks more, something heavier like SmartRacing bars are probably a better long-term investment.

IF your suspension is tired, consider redoing the whole thing. Suspension really needs to be engineered as a package of Torsion Bars, Sway Bars, Shocks, bushings and alignment. Its cheaper and better to do it all at once and use an experienced shop that can get all the pieces matched properly.

Big problem is setting the performance level.... to a large extent street and track suspensions are mututally exclusive.... what is good for one is bad for the other.... IMHO, street/track compromise set-ups leave you with a suspension that isn't really good for either.

If you drive your car on the street, then put in a nice street set-up and drive aroiund it on the track... you can become an extremely skilled driver in a car like that..... even though you might not be able to keep up with more prepped cars... if you are turning the car into a dedicated track car, go with a full-boat racing set-up from the get-go... anything less and you'll end up tearing most of iit out in two years and re-doing it.

Once you go to full race suspension, it makes sense to flare the fenders.... but that can always be done... if you drvie on the 205s for a while, you'll develop excellent car control skills.

Have Fun

 

JCP911S is right on. I started with a 1975 2.7 911S, matching numbers with the stock tire/wheel combo. Five years later, and much track experience later, the car has a 3.6 varioram with a Steve Weiner@Rensport Systems designed suspension set up. Talk to Steve, do not be afraid. He will explain, as JCP did, that the wheels, tires, suspension, brakes all work to make a cohesive system. Many 911s are piecemealed and cobbled together, and ultimately sold. I wouldn't trade mine for anything, it's light, fast, and handles with aplomb. By the way, my car is still and will remain narrow body, wears 205/55-16 front and 225/50-16 rear (with fenders rolled) car weighs 2330 lbs dry. Absolutely buy quality, Elephant poly bronze bushings, Sanders Engineering torsion bars, SmartRacing adj sways...Steve will set you up without banging you.
Nick

 

Yes, if you can't go with the Elephant Racing bushings, consideer staying with stock bushings and monoballs if you are contemplating any significant street use....IMHO the poly type hard plastic bushings are crap... they are noisy and bind the suspension.

 

thanks all. a year later and no further progress on the project - life got in the way!
still committed to revamping the whole system while keeping the "early 911" feel.